Sight for firearms.



33*2550 OR 1 $131 9029 SR G. L. BARNES.

SIGHT FOR FIREARMS.

APPLICATION FILED mum, 1914.

1,131,029. Patented Mar.9,1915.

. 30 JWWMM. WWW 2 01302 .Ziuvzas 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE L. BARNES, OF MONTOVIESE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE LYMAN GUN SIGHT CORPORATION, OF MIDDLEFIELD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CON- N ECTICUT.

SIGHT FOR FIREARMS.

Application filed June 4, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE L. BARNES, of Montowese, in the county of New Haven, and in the State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sights for Firearms, and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to a sight for firearms of the class in which provision is made for locking the folding part of a rear folding sight in the elevated or sighting position.

The object of the invention is to provide means for limiting the motion and preventing the displacement of the operating mechanism for holding the detent in locked engagement with the sight base and thereby preventing the folding movement of the sight upon its hinge or pivotal axis.

The invention consists in the novel combination of the stop mechanism between the holding element of the locking mechanism and the base for securing the holding element in place, and in the arrangement and construction of parts as more fully hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification Figure 1 is a perspective view of a sight embodying my improvement; Fig. 2 is a central vertical crosssection through the sight with the sight in sighting position locked in place; Fig. 3 is a similar cross-section with the holding nut of the joint in position for being assembled thereon and with the locking screw in the position that it occupies in such assemblage of the holding nut; Fig. 4 is a similar crosssection to Fig. 2 showing the pivotal joint center; Fig. 5 is a central longitudinal section through the sight in the elevated position; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the sight with the parts in sighting position and the locking screw removed; Fig. 7 is a view of the locking screw.

The drawings show a well-known type of rear sight for fire-arms. It comprises a base 10, adapted to be secured to the stock of the fire-arm, having a pair of vertical perforated ears 11, which receive a hinge journal bolt 12 passed horizontally through them transversely of the aXis of the barrel of the fire-arm, and upon which is hinged a part 13, called the joint which part carries the sight proper 14, and is capable of being Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

Serial No. 843,005.

folded down on its hinge axis from the vertical or sighting position shown in Fig. 1, back upon or into contact with the stock. In the sight here shown the joint is provided with a hollow, or tubular part 15 which receives the sight post 17 vertically movable therein and is slotted on its front side at 18 to allow the projection of a rack on the sight post which intermeshes with the threads of the adjusting nut 19, journaled on the tubular part 15, by means of which the sight is adjusted for elevation. The journal bolt 12, which forms a bear- 1ng for the joint 13, to swing upon as the sight is carried from the vertical to the inclined position is formed with a cylindrical journal eye at the joint, and integral with one end of the said journaled part is a screw threaded part 22 which is screwed into one of the ears of the base and receives a nut 23 on its projecting end by which the bolt is rigidly secured in the base stationary and incapable of turning therein. The cylindrical journal of the bolt extends through and is journaled in the opposite ear of the base and its projecting end or head comprises a loop 24 formed by a member which is bent around and enters a radial mortise, or slot in said cylindrical part and has the shape of a tongue 26. The said looped member is spring tempered and the tongue is normally set in a position exterior to the periphery of the journal of the bolt but when inserted into the eye of the joint is compressed inwardly, but by means of its tension is pressed outwardly against the bearing of the eye of the joint. Said bearing is formed with a notch in its periphery for the engagement of the aforesaid elastic tongue 26, and the journal bearing is adjusted in the base in such position that the tongue will engage the detent notch in the joint when the sight post is in the elevated or operating position and thus hold it firmly in said position but subject however to being pushed over by a certain amount of force applied to it, to an inclined position back upon the stock. Thus the elastic radially operating detent, by engagement with the notch in the eye of the joint will hold the sight post vertically in its operating position. This action, and operation, and construction of parts are old and Wellknown and possess no patentable novelty.

It is desirable that at certain times the l 1. r .MF a a now sight post and sight proper may be locked in the aforesaid elevated or vertical, operative position, incapable of being thrown down, and to accomplish this result provision is made for locking the parts. As shown, this comprises a chock or lock adapted to be interposed between the detent and the opposite part of the bolt, whereby the detent is prevented from being forced inwardly after it has been locked. The preferable form of said device consists of a chocking screw 27 inserted axially into the threaded end of the bolt as shown in sectional view in Fig. 2, the inner end of the screw being pointed or made somewhat conical or otherwise shaped to engage with the correspondingly beveled shoulder or end of the spring detent, and the outer end being provided with an operating head 28 by means of which it may readily be turned or rotated. The perforation in the screw threaded end of the hinge bolt is concentric with the periphery of the bolt and is screwthreaded throughout its length to the free end of the detent, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. This part of the mechanism is shown and described in a pending application filed by David Grant of Middlefield, Connecticut, June 4, 1914, Serial No. 843,054.

The invention forming the subject of this application resides in the novel means for securing its aforesaid chocking screw, or lock in its screw threaded seat in the ournal bolt of the sight.

In the operation of the mechanism, the detent of the journal bolt may be chocked in the position in which it engages the detent notch of the sight part, by screwing the chocking screw firmly inwardly against its interior surface and end, as shown in Fig. 2, and the reverse action of the screw will liberate the detent and enable it to be sprung inwardly to disengage from the sight part in the act of folding the sight down from the sighting position. In this action, it is important that the chocking screw shall be adjusted in such close proximity, or relationship to the detent, that a limited movement or turn of the screw will lock or release the detent, and that the screw shall be incapable of accidentally being backed out of the journal bolt entirely and removed therefrom or withdrawn to an extent that would involve trouble and delay in locking the sight expeditiously and with slight efiort. It is also desirable to accomplish this result without the addition of extra mechanism, or complication of parts, that is by the simple configuration of the existing mechanical elements necessarily involved in the mechanism, as so far described. The following is a description of the peculiar construction embodying my invention by which such result is brought about. On the outer face of the locking nut 23 is provided a projecting stop pin 29, either by insertion, or by milling the surface away around it, or by any other method. At the same radial distance from the revolving axis of the screw 27 a similar projecting stop pin 30 is provided on the interior face of the operating head 28 of the chocking screw, either by insertion or by milling away the surface of the head around it, or by any other method. These two respective stops are, therefore, in the same circle or path of rotation, when the operating head is in proximity to the nut, and consequently the screw cannot be turned through a complete revolution with reference to the nut owing to the impossibility of the pins passing by each other. The length of the screw is so proportioned that, with the locking nut screwed firmly to place on the journal bolt, the pins will stand in the same revolving path when the screw point is in engagement with the spring detent, as shown in Fig. 2. Also, the proportion of the part is such, that at such position of the screw the pin of the operating head will stand on the following side of the pin of the locking nut, that is, with the pin of the locking nut in its advance, as regards the direction in which the screw is rotated to be screwed into engagement with the detent. Then, in operation it will be possible to turn the screw backward, or in the direction to disengage the screw from the detent a complete turn minus the space occupied by the two pins, which limit of movement is suflicient to chock or unchock the screw from the detent and lock or release the folding sight.

In assembling the screw and locking nut to insure the required relationship of the parts, the screw is first screwed into the journal bolt to the distance which substan tially corresponds to the excess of length of the chocking screw over the axial length of the locking nut, the nut meanwhile being held in such proximity to the operating head of the screw that the respective stops will occupy the same revolving plane, or an engageable relation with each other, and the nut will be turned with the screw. Then, when the nut reaches the screw threaded, projecting end of the journal bolt, it will engage the screw threads thereof, and advance upon the bolt as the screw is ad vanced within its seat, the bolt and nut being rotated andscrewed up in unison together until the nut is brought firmly to its seat against the face of the ear of the base. In such position the nut is incapable of accidental removal and the screw can not be backed out of its seat without loosening and correspondingly turning the nut backward, but the screw can be turned through nearly an entire revolution for the purpose of engaging or releasing from the detent. The proportion of the length of the screw to the total axial length through the nut should be such that when the pin 30 on the operating head is just in advance of the pin 29 on the nut, considered with reference to the direction in which the screw is rotated in being screwed into its seat, as shown in Fig. 2, and the two pins stand in the same vertical plane or engaging relationship, that the end of the screw or chocking part thereof shall be in such close proximity to the end of the detent that a fractional part of a turn of the operating head, as for instance a half turn as shown in Fig. 4, and indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 6, will firmly wedge the screw under the end of the detent and lock the detent in the notch of the folding sight part to hold the sight in the elevated position.

It will be seen that the result of securing the chocking screw and limiting its motion to a prescribed range, is accomplished without addition of an extra piece of mechanism or increase of the number of parts thereof, the chocking screw and locking nut being essential and original elements of the device. The provision of the stop pins and their peculiar combination and relation constitute an important improvement of the sight, which is attained without additional cost or the exercise of extra labor of assembling.

The parts may be changed without departing from the spirit of the invention, the only requirement being that the respective stops shall occupy an engageable relation when the chocking screw is engaged with the detent, and that they do not interfere with the insertion of the screw through the lock nut or withdrawal therefrom in an axial direction in assembling the parts, prior to the engagement of the threads of the respective screw parts. By means of this mechanism the chocking screw, or other locking device, is always secured in con-' venient relation to the detent without liability to become detached or withdrawn,

' subject to insuring the looking or unlocking of the detent by a slight turn, in no case exceeding an entire revolutlon.

The degree of stability required for the sight in the elevated position, that 1s, its resistance to being forced into the depressed position, is very considerable, for itshould not be susceptible of accidental displacement by contact with twigs while the arm is being carried through underbrush, or of being readily knocked down without the application of a material amount of force. This condition is insured partly by the proportion of the depth of the detent notch and the radial detent and the configuration of the cam surfaces upon them, or abruptness of their sides, and partly by the tension or stiffness of the spring of the detent. When the spring is rigid and unyielding it will not easily respond to action and a powerful efiort will be required to swing the sight upon its journal, and dislodge the detent from the notch in the folding part. Consequently, it is imperative that visible evidence of the state of the locking mechanism be indicated at all times, for otherwise it would be impossible to know whether the resistance of the sight part to movement on its journal was due to the rigidity of the detent spring when the detent was unlocked, or to the fact that the mechanism was locked, and whether to exert greater force in the effort to depress the sight to the risk of breakage, or to manipulate the locking part. In the latter event the lack of knowledge as to the direction in which the locking mechanism should be turned involves the risk of destruction of the parts by attempting the improper action. In fact, the improvement is practically worthless and inoperative unless an indicator is provided to externally demonstrate the condition of the locking mechanism at all times sufficiently to enable the operator to know whether to proceed to lock or unlock the locking mechanism, and when to apply force to depress the sight with positive knowledge that no damage would result.

With the form of the mechanism comprising the subject of this application it is always evident whether the locking mechanism is locked or unlocked; if it be known whether the screw is right or left handed, for the respective stops of the movable and stationary parts are always visible. It can be seen at a glance whether the stop of the operating head was last turned back to the stop of the locking nut, or ahead therefrom, the visible relative position of the stops constituting an infallible guide to the status of the locking mechanism and the necessary actions of the operator in manipulating it.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is 1. In a sight for fire arms, the combination of a base, a sight-carrying member, a hinge connection between the latter and the base, a latch device comprising a notch-carrying member, and a detent movable into and out of engagement with the notch of said notch-carrying member, one of said parts being mounted on the base and the other on the sight-carrying member, a rotatable detent lock, and means to limit the rotation thereof, comprising two projections on the exterior of the device, one of which is carried by said lock and the other is supported by the base.

2. In a sight for firearms, the combination of a base, a journal bolt mounted in the base, a radially movable detent seated in the body of the journal bolt spring actuated to normally project exteriorly to the circumference of the journal, a rotatable detent lock adapted to hold the detent in its exterior position and projecting from the bolt,

the projecting end of the rotatable lock having an operating head, a lock nut screwed upon the journal bolt, interengageable stops carried respectively upon the lock nut and the operating head adapted for limiting the rotation of the screw in relation to the nut, and a folding sight part hinged upon the journal bolt and having a detent notch.

3. In a sight for firearms the combination of a base, a journal bolt mounted in the base having a threaded end, a lock nut screwed upon the threaded end of and securing the bolt in the base provided with a stop projection, a folding sight part journaled upon 5 the bolt having a detent notch, a detent mounted in the journal bolt engageable with the notch of the sight part, a screw seated longitudinally of the journal bolt engageable with the detentito chock it in engagement with the detent, an operating head carried upon the screw provided with a stop projecting in the revolving path of the stop of the lock nut and adapted to engage the same to limit the rotation of the screw relatively to the nut.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand at Middlefield, Conn, May 25th, 1914.

GEORGE L. BARNES. Witnesses:

DAvn) GRANT, HAROLD G. BURNHAM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

